


Haunted Holidays

by rangerhitomi



Category: Pokemon Ranger
Genre: Broken Bones, F/M, Gen, Injuries and Healing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2018-03-25 05:30:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3798520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rangerhitomi/pseuds/rangerhitomi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kellyn, Keith, and Kate decide that a trip to Almia Castle would be a good start to the holidays. Unfortunately, exploring an abandoned frozen castle is about as safe as it sounds, even if Team Dim Sun isn't involved this time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Haunted Holidays

He was trapped in a castle encased in ice with a broken Styler, a small, half-eaten bag of trail mix, one book of matches, and a handful of dryer lint that had somehow ended up in his pocket and not the lint filter. To make matters worse, he had become separated not only from his fellow Top Rangers, but also from his partner Pachirisu. As the icing on the frozen cake that was his experience in this godforsaken place, he was pretty sure he had sprained his ankle falling through the ice that somehow passed as a walkway two floors above, and had definitely broken a few ribs hitting the countertop. (Someone needed to tell the landlord to fix that walkway.)

How this continued happening to him, Kellyn would never know.

His troubles began one particularly cold, snowy winter night. The Ranger Union was a cheery, brightly lit hub of activity. Colored lights were wrapped around the walls and desks as jazzy holiday music poured from the loudspeakers. Union Rangers who were done with patrols for the day were sipping hot chocolate as they socialized, while others were singing and dancing around the main floor as the secretaries watched with amused expressions.

But Keith was not satisfied just dancing around to celebrate the holidays. Keith wanted a memorable winter adventure, and he wanted to share it with his two best friends.

"Tomorrow's our first day off for the week, so we should go treasure hunting in Almia Castle!"

Kate's face had positively lit up at the prospect of a dangerous adventure. Her bright blue eyes sparkled as she readily and eagerly agreed. Her partner Pokémon, Pachirisu, who was perched on her shoulder, had chattered along in agreement. Kate grabbed Kellyn's hands and, her trademark pigtails bouncing as she danced up and down in excitement, said, "Oh, Kellyn, doesn't that sound  _fun_?"

"No, that does not sound fun, it sounds like a  _terrible_  idea," Kellyn had wanted to say. "Almia Castle is dangerous. But you, Keith, clearly wouldn't know, because  _I_ was the one exploring it while  _you_  were off getting yourself kidnapped in the middle of a desert temple."

But what he really said was something (more or less) along the lines of, "Okay, but that place is dangerous. We should really make sure we have enough supplies before we set off to go freeze to death in the middle of Almia's tundra."

Sometimes he hated himself.

So the next morning, Kellyn had found himself in front of the ice-encrusted doors of Almia Castle. He stared up at the massive doors with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, wondering how he had managed to get him sucked into  _yet another_  of Keith's bad ideas. He glanced at his partner Pachirisu, who glanced right back with a reluctant expression on its face. With a tremendous sigh, Kellyn subconsciously tugged at the zipper on his parka and pushed open the door.

The entrance hall was as uninviting as the last time Kellyn had been there. The floor was encrusted in ice and the few pictures on the wall were glossed over with frost. The trio and their partner Pokémon walked slowly and silently through the hall, occasionally sliding on the ice. Finally, they ascended the ice-encrusted staircase that led out of the frozen wasteland that was the entrance hall – and into the frozen wasteland that, once upon a time, had passed as a dining room. The cracked china plates and crystal goblets set atop the long table were familiar to Kellyn, but the fresh flower arrangements and lit candles evenly spaced on top of it were not.

"It's  _freezing_  in here," Kate said, tightening her scarf around her neck as she examined the broken dishware on the table. Neither she nor Keith, who was now examining a large, frost-covered portrait hanging on the wall, seemed to notice that something was amiss.

"I think… someone else is here," he said after a moment of silence.

"What?" Keith said from across the room.

Kellyn pointed at the flora on the table. "Those plants only grow in one place in Almia, and that place is Union Road."

The three Rangers looked at one another.

"Maybe we should go," Kellyn said nervously.

Keith looked outraged. "Go? This only makes it more fun, isn't that right, Buizel?"

His partner Pokémon nodded vigorously. "Bui!"

"Look," Kellyn said as evenly as he could, "You've never been here before. I have. Last time I was here, Team Dim Sun was also here, and they tried to kill me. I have no desire to be almost killed again."

"But Team Dim sun  _isn't_  here!" Keith insisted. "We got rid of them, remember?"

"Team Dim Sun wasn't the only thing trying to kill me!" Kellyn said in exasperation. "There are all sorts of dangerous wild ice Pokémon here, not to mention-"

"Ghosts?" Kate said timidly.

"Yeah, and gh-"

He and Keith turned to look at her.

Hovering behind a clearly terrified Kate with a large grin on its face was a Haunter. One of its clawlike hands was gripping her right arm, specifically, her Vatonage Styler, as the other was grasping her head, holding it still.

Kate's eyes darted to her Styler. "It's draining my energy gauge," she said in a soft voice so as not to alarm the ghost. "You guys need to do something quick before it breaks."

Kellyn had dealt with many ghost Pokémon in the past, but never had he experienced trying to free one of his best friends from one without hurting her. If he used his Styler, he would startle the Haunter and it might harm Kate. But… something at the back of his mind was nagging him…

As Kellyn stood there helplessly, Keith decided to take the situation into his own hands. He picked up a goblet from the table and threw it against the wall on the far side of the room. The goblet shattered. Haunter released Kate in surprise as it turned to Keith, glaring furiously. Keith picked up a second goblet and dangled it tauntingly.

"Move away slowly, Kate," Keith instructed calmly. "I think I may have angered it."

Kate followed his instructions, but it appeared that the Haunter was not interested in her anymore. It focused its gaze on Keith, who now looked nervous.

"What now?" Kellyn said incredulously. "Now it's just going to suck  _your_  life energy."

"Yeah, I didn't really think that far ahead," Keith said, taking large steps backward as the Haunter drifted slowly toward him. "I feel like running would be the appropriate thing to do at this point but I don't think I can outrun a ghost."

_What can we do?_ Kellyn weighed the options. The exit they came from was a no-go – they would first have to capture Empoleon or Staraptor to help them get across Ice Lake again, and that would be a difficult task while being chased by a Haunter. No, they had to calm the Haunter down first…  _Oh duh, Kellyn, you're a freaking Top Ranger._

"Keith, when I give the signal, run to the exit on the other side of the room," Kellyn said. "If you run the way you're headed now, it's a dead end."

"Okay, but what's the signal?"

Kellyn grabbed the Styler on his arm and squeezed, releasing the Capture Disc. He began drawing loops through the air with his fingers as the Disc encircled Haunter… but Haunter clearly was adverse to the idea of being captured. It released a wave of dark energy that knocked the Disc away.

Now Haunter turned to Kellyn.

"Well, that didn't work so well," Kellyn said uneasily.

Haunter released another wave of energy, this time directed at Kellyn. Using the reflexes gained from years of intensive Ranger training, he nimbly leapt out of the way.

Unfortunately, he forgot that there were patches of ice on the floor. He slid on a particularly large patch and slid headfirst under the table as Haunter let off another attack.

"Pachirisu, with me!" Kellyn yelled as china shattered above him. "Daz, Kate, split up! It can't chase three of us at once!" He scrambled out from under the table and ran for the staircase, sliding on ice as he went, Pachirisu following close behind.

"Kellyn-" Kate started running after him, but Keith grabbed her arm. "He knows what he's doing. He's buying us time to figure out how to calm that thing down, so let's go work out-"

The words were barely out of his mouth before a second Haunter materialized in front of the two.

Keith cringed. "Oh, f-"

Kate pushed him out of the way as the new Haunter hurled a Shadow Ball at them. The attack missed the intended target – Keith – hitting Kate instead, which sent her sliding across the slick floor into the wall near the staircase Kellyn had ascended only moments before. Her Pachirisu hurried over to her.

"Oh… oh ow," Kate whimpered, rubbing her head. She glanced at her Styler.  _Only two energy bars left?_ she thought with a feeling of dread.  _This is bad. That Haunter drained more energy than I thought… or this Haunter's attack was mostly absorbed by the Styler… Or both._

"Pachi…" Pachirisu tittered worriedly, rubbing Kate's arm.

She smiled at her partner. "I'm all right." She pulled herself up and glanced over at the stairway. "Keith, Kellyn doesn't have a Capture Disc. He's pretty much useless without one, so I'm going after him. I'm declaring this an emergency mission."

Keith nodded at her and climbed to his feet, facing the Haunter. "Okay, you know what? I've had it with you things. You're ruining my holiday  _and_  you're trying to kill us. Buizel," he said, gesturing dramatically with his Styler, "I think it's time for a Poké Assist."

At that exact moment, there was a loud shattering sound coming from upstairs, a yell, and a distant crash.

Kate didn't wait around to see the outcome of the battle between Keith and Haunter. She had to save Kellyn.

Kellyn heard the crash downstairs that indicated that Kate and Keith were likely in danger, but he had problems of his own to worry about, namely the fact that Haunter was still trying to hit him with its Shadow Ball attacks.

That and he had forgotten that the entire third floor of the castle was essentially a walkway… made of ice.

Times like this made him wish he had actually taken the ice skating lessons at the Academy seriously.

Kellyn managed to avoid one… two… three hits by wildly sliding around, barely avoiding falling off the side each time. After the third miss, the only thing that kept Kellyn from flying off the side was that he had managed to grab onto a giant spear of ice that he was pretty sure had almost  _impaled_  him on his last visit.

_Gods_ , he hated this place.

"Pachirisu!" Kellyn yelled. "Do you have a spare Capture Disc?"

His partner was having an easier time maneuvering the ice than Kellyn was, and had already reached the landing on the other side. It shook its head helplessly.

"What?" Kellyn yelped. "Why?"

"Pa pachi!"

"Oh, that's just gr-" Kellyn began before Haunter launched another attack. This time, with Kellyn holding desperately to the pillar, it hit its mark.

The good news for Kellyn was that his Styler managed to absorb most of the energy from the attack.

The bad news was that the remnants of the attack had shattered the pillar he had been clutching – and that the force of the attack sent Kellyn sliding backward – right over the edge of the walkway. He let out a loud scream as he fell – ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty –

He slammed into a hard surface. He felt something shatter beneath his weight and a sickening crunching sound as he bounced like a rag doll from the surface to the floor, landing with a final thud on his back. He panicked momentarily as he realized not only that he could not see, but also that the wind had been completely knocked out of him, and so he could not breathe.

After a few seconds, he finally managed to draw some air into his lungs, though his body was still numb. His hazy vision began to clear, and he finally managed to see where he had ended up.

The surface he had smashed into was a countertop, and the shattering sound he had felt appeared to have been a stack of plates that had been set on it. With his limited scope, he saw an ancient wood-burning stove and an ice-encrusted sideboard, and realized where he was.

This was the dead end Kellyn had warned Keith about. The kitchen.

Then the initial numbness he felt from the shock subsided and he realized what the crunching sounds he had felt when he had hit the counter had been.

His ribs.

Kellyn had never felt pain like it before. The closest he could remember to ever having been in that much pain was when he broke his collarbone doing a long jump in grade school gym class – but even then, it had not hurt so much as it was uncomfortable.

_This_ – this was painful.

He rolled himself over onto his side and let out an involuntary moan of pain. In addition to his ribs, his ankle was throbbing. And to top it all off, as he struggled to push himself to a sitting position, he finally saw what had become of his beloved Vatonage Styler.

It was broken.

Not just depleted of energy, but genuinely  _broken_  – the release slot had cracked, wires were sticking out of the cracks – and he had no idea how to fix it. He initially couldn't even figure out how it had _happened_ , but then reasoned that it probably happened on his fall, in conjunction with the massive attack he had taken at point-blank range right before he fell.

Then he heard it.

It was faint, but there. He could hear Kate calling his name.

"I'm in the kitchen on the second floor off the dining room," Kellyn tried to call back, but his voice came out as barely more than a whisper. He wanted so desperately to tell her where he was. He simply didn't have the energy to yell.

With great energy, he managed to sit up, then immediately wished he hadn't. Resisting the urge to lie back down, Kellyn held his Styler close to his face and attempted to operate the Voicemail function. To his dismay, the device was completely nonresponsive. He gingerly reached into his pockets and pulled out a book of matches, a half-eaten bag of trail mix, and, for some reason that he could not explain, a handful of dryer lint. With a sigh of frustration, he leaned his head back against the counter and closed his eyes.

So there he was in the coldest and most dismal place in Almia with broken ribs and a sprained ankle, little food, little way to warm himself. He was a Ranger without a Styler, without a partner, without his fellow Rangers. He had no way of communicating with them. He was in more pain than he ever could have imagined possible.

As if his current troubles weren't bad enough, he heard a sound. It was the soft rustling of wings – and only one Pokémon native to Almia Castle made that sound.

_No, no, no, go away_ … Kellyn thought desperately. His only consolation was that the counter he was leaning against was an island counter in the middle of the room, so the Scyther wasn't aware that he was there – yet.

He struggled to control his sharp breaths, waiting for what seemed like hours but was probably only five minutes for the Scyther to either leave or find him and carve him up.

The Scyther peered around the counter and stared at Kellyn with a confused expression, as if trying to figure out why there would be a human  _here_ , of all places. Kellyn tried to look as nonthreatening as possible – which wasn't a very difficult task considering he probably  _looked_  like he had just fallen thirty feet from a frozen walkway and hit a counter on the way down.

The Scyther either didn't realize that Kellyn was already mortally wounded or it simply didn't care; either way, Kellyn knew that unless a miracle happened within the next five seconds, he was very, very dead.

Fortunately for him, his miracle happened right as Scyther raised its scythe-like arm.

"Pachirisu, Poké Assist!"

Kellyn squinted as the bright electricity shot through the air and struck the Scyther, stopping the Pokémon in its tracks.

Kellyn watched with fascination as Kate performed the capture, her arms dancing in graceful arcs through the air. He had seen her capture before, of course, but there was something particularly  _enchanting_ about it this time. Finally, with one sweeping gesture, she completed the capture. The now-calm Scyther wandered off and Kate rushed over to her friend, dropping to her knees next to him. Her Pachirisu bounded along next to her, and his was close behind.

"Oh Kellyn, I'm so glad you're alive," Kate said, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling his body toward hers.

A whimper of pain escaped him and she released him immediately. "Oh no, did I hurt you?"

Kellyn smiled weakly. "No. No, I'm sorry. I'm just in a bit of pain right now… I think I've got some broken ribs and my ankle may be sprained." He looked over at his partner Pokémon. "Hey there, Pachirisu."

"Pachi," Pachirisu said worriedly.

Kate patted her pockets frantically. "My med kit… my med kit… Pachirisu, do you have it? Kellyn, your Styler!" she said suddenly, her eyes widening as she grabbed his arm and examined the Styler attached to it. "What  _happened_  to you?"

He put his hand on her arm gently and she released his arm. "Calm down, Kate. One thing at a time, and personally, I'd like to get my bones splinted for the time being."

"Of course, I'm sorry!" Kate said, looking back over at her Pachirisu. "My med kit?"

Pachirisu reached into its bag and pulled out a small box. Kate took it and peered through its contents, finally pulling out a roll of tape, a roll of bandages, a small pair of scissors, and a bottle of painkiller. She dumped a couple of painkillers into Kellyn's hand. "You should take those to help the pain and the swelling. I don't have anything to drink, though, so you're going to have to take them dry."

Kellyn obediently put the pills in his mouth and forced himself to swallow them. They were bitter, but he wasn't going to complain.

Kate held up the bandage roll and the tape. She looked embarrassed. "I… I have to take off your shirt… to properly bandage your ribs."

Kellyn nodded. "Okay, do what you have to… but be quick, it's cold."

She looked around. "It is really cold… this would be easier if it were warmer… ah." Her eyes rested on the wood-burning stove. "That should work." She examined it carefully. "It's got some pretty dry dead wood in there right now, so I think… do you have any matches? And something to help get the fire started?"

Kellyn carefully reached into his pocket and pulled out the matches and the wad of lint. She took them and nodded. "These should do it. Okay, watch the Top Ranger at work!"

As he watched her make the fire, he had a few questions he needed answered. "How did you find me? Why was that Haunter after us? Where's Keith?"

She laughed. "As Daz and I were trying to figure out how to help you, another Haunter appeared attacked us."

"What?"

Kate stepped back from the stove. A comfortable fire was now going in the stove, flooding Kellyn's aching body with warmth. She didn't answer his question at first. She unzipped his parka and hesitated as she reached his shirt. Sensing her unwillingness to finish taking off his shirt, he clenched his teeth and slowly pulled the shirt over his head. With a deep breath, she began wrapping the bandages around his torso. The sharp pain returned, but he did not make a sound.

"Keith," Kate said as if there had been no interruption, "decided to capture the second Haunter using his Buizel's Poké Assist. So I decided to help you. But as I was heading up the stairs to come rescue you, I heard you scream and I heard something crash a distance away."

Kellyn was not comforted by the fact that she could hear something like his body slamming against a countertop from that far away, but remained silent.

"Hold this for me while I tape it, would you?" Kate asked, tapping the bandage gently. "I'm not a professional so this is the best I could do…"

Kellyn obliged. "So what did you do?"

"Well, when I got there, the Haunter was going after your partner. So I got its attention. It came at me instead, so I had your Pachirisu use a Poké Assist to paralyze the Haunter like I did the Scyther. Then I captured it." She cut the tape. "All done." She pulled off his boot and began wrapping his ankle.

Kellyn pulled his shirt back over his body, wincing as she tightened the splint on his ankle. Despite how uncomfortable it may have been, the quick first aid had definitely helped make it less painful. "Thank you, Kate."

Kate was too busy taping up his ankle to respond right away. "Mm-hmm." She cut the tape and helped him put his foot back in the boot. She glanced at his Styler and frowned. "This won't do. Professor Hastings will be furious if you come back with your Styler looking like  _that._ " She grabbed a screwdriver from her belt and grabbed Kellyn's hand, determined to fix the Styler. He grabbed her by the hand in return.

"No, Kate, I mean it… thank you. You don't know how much I appreciate you just  _being_ here with me. I was only alone for maybe fifteen minutes and it was the most terrible thing… I just wanted someone to be with me. That's all I wanted."

Her blue eyes and his green ones met.

"Kellyn…" Kate said softly. She smiled and tightened her grip on his hand. "I'm glad that I got to spend part of my holiday with you, even if it was a near-death experience."

Kellyn laughed. "Kate, I wouldn't trade my near-death experiences with you two for anything."

At that moment, the door burst open, and a tired and disheveled Keith dragged himself through it. Kate pulled her hand away and returned to fixing the Styler.

"That was unbelievable," Keith said grumpily. "Finally managed to get rid of the Haunter by capturing it, then I go trying to find you two and almost get fried by a Ninetales. Why the heck didn't you tell me where you were?"

Kate cringed. "I… forgot about that."

Keith threw up his hands. "You  _forgot_? I believe that was the plan, yes? 'Go that way and try to find Kellyn and I'll go this way, don't worry, I'll call you if I find him'? What happened to calling me?"

Kate shrugged apologetically. "Sorry."

Keith plopped himself down next to Kellyn. "Oh well. Hey, you look terrible, what happened?"

"Long story," Kellyn said. "So you captured the Haunter? Do you know why they were so aggravated?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Keith said proudly. "You see, they wanted us to be part of their holiday feast. Meaning, we were the feast."

"And the flowers on the table?" Kate pressed.

"According to my Browser, they like to 'entertain' people before sucking the life out of them," Keith said as if he were discussing the weather. "I guess the flowers were there to make death seem more appealing."

His two friends stared at him. Kellyn then realized that the nagging feeling he had experienced when they had entered the room was his mind's way of trying to convey that very same Browser information.

"Then why didn't the Haunter suck my life energy when it had me in its grasp?" Kate wondered.

Keith shrugged. "Probably wanted to wait for its buddies to share you." He yawned. "I'm tired. Hey, we can leave if you want now."

Kellyn looked over at Kate, then at the two Pachirisu curled up on the floor in front of the fire, then over at Keith. "You know… I just want to be with my best friends for a while before heading home. Let's enjoy the holidays… together."


End file.
